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PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea (The National, Oct. 31) – Indonesia is to provide a list of firearms it manufactures to help Papua New Guinea tackle the growing guns and drugs trade between the two countries.

In return, it has asked Papua New Guinea to furnish serial numbers of confiscated Indonesian-made firearms allegedly smuggled across the border in the past few years.

The data would help Jakarta determine how many firearms were being smuggled through Indonesia from a third country and what counter-measures to take.

The understanding was reached at the recent border liaison meeting in Manus.

Indonesia also expressed concerned over Papua New Guineans who cross the border to hunt, using guns.

It deems the crossing as illegal and warned that those caught would be charged accordingly under Indonesian law.

Simon Namis, the Foreign Affairs and Immigration Department’s acting director-general (Asia) who led the Papua...

SUVA. Fiji (Fiji Times, Oct. 31) – The Fiji Chamber of Commerce and Industry says Fiji should buy fuel from Papua New Guinea and not import from Australia and Singapore.

Chamber president Taito Waradi said it was an option that should be considered if the price of goods was to be controlled.

He was reacting to a surge in the price of cooking gas and freight cost as a result of soaring fuel prices.

Businesses have warned it will pass additional costs on to customers if fuel prices do not come down.

"We are a member of the Melanesian Spearhead Group and can help each other. I don't know what the leaders discussed at the forum but it is something we can explore," Mr Waradi said. "PNG is the only country that has oil export to cater for our needs. They also have an oil refinery and can supply our needs. We should show the world that no matter how small we are, we are capable of coming up with initiatives to sustain ourselves."

PAPEETE, Tahiti (Tahitipresse, Oct. 31) – French Polynesia President Oscar Temaru said upon returning to Tahiti Saturday night that he’s qualified to talk about Tahiti’s independence on foreign soil.

Temaru was answering last week’s criticism from French High Commissioner Anne Boquet, who said that as French Polynesia’s president Temaru "should not be talking about independence on foreign soil".

With a generous smile that indicated he accepted the high commissioner’s criticism, Temaru clarified his independence statements made during the just concluded 36th Pacific Islands Forum Summit in Papua New Guinea. Temaru told Tahiti’s news media upon arriving in Tahiti from Auckland, "I shouldn’t be talking, but I’m qualified."

Serene, smiling and covered in traditional welcoming flower leis, Temaru was obviously satisfied with having opened the door of the Forum to changing French Polynesia’s status from observer to associate member.

PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea (PNG Post-Courier, Oct. 31) – Villagers in the Bamu and Gama River delta of Papua New Guinea’s Western Province are in dire need of food and medical supplies after high tides brought in knee-deep mud and debris, destroying their staple food of sago (palm) and has also swept away their chickens and ducks.

[PIR editor’s note: Western Province is a coastal province in southwestern Papua New Guinea; Daru island is the provincial capital.]

"They have got to be the poorest people in my view in PNG at the moment," said Dr. Morris Wainetti from the United Church Health Services in Daru.

He reported last Thursday that the people in the area, close to the Western and Gulf boarders, needed all the help they could get and not just that of the government.

The people need clothing, mosquito nets, cooking utensils as well as medical supplies, Dr. Wainetti said. He also appealed to the Western Governor and Middle Fly Member of Parliament...

HONIARA, Solomon Islands (Solomon Star, Oct. 31) – The Solomon Islands Western Provincial government has approved construction of 30 new community high schools over the next 15 years in a move to ease the problem of dropouts from primary schools each year.

This was announced at the formal graduation ceremony at Vanga Teachers College in Kolombangara on Friday by the Minister of Investment and Trade, Commerce and Labour Pye Roberts representing the provincial government at the ceremony.

Speaking at the occasion, Roberts highlighted that the newly elected executive had recognized the importance of education in the province as well as the country.

NUKUALOFA, Tonga (Matangi Tonga, Oct. 31) – Despite heavy rainfall over Tongatapu this morning, King Taufa’ahau Tupou IV was present at Fua’amotu International Airport to welcome the arrival of both Pacific Blue on its first inaugural flight and Air New Zealand’s new Airbus A320 aircraft.

Tony Marks, Pacific Blue’s Chief Executive Officer and Tony Wheelens, Aviation Relations Manager, who were on board the inaugural flight, had an audience with the king at the Royal VIP lounge.

Marks told guests that this was a special day for aviation tourism in Tonga and a major step in the expansion of Pacific Blue’s service in the Pacific.

On October 30 they had their first inaugural flight to Samoa, and tomorrow November 1 will be their inaugural flight to Rarotonga.

"Pacific Blue not only offers a unique service and a brand new aircraft but it also offers the strong commitment of our staff which is the most important", he said.

Mr. Urwin said this after the announcement by China Vice-Foreign Minister Jang Jiechi of the funding commitment of US$2 million towards the China-Pacific Islands Forum cooperation fund.

Of this, US$50,000 will go to the Bitakewa regional co-operation fund, US$100,000 each for Pacific Islands Forum Import Management Fund and Forum Parliamentary Assembly, US$500,000 over five years to the South Pacific Tourism Organization that ousted Taiwan’s bid for membership, and US$80,000 for South Pacific Regional Environmental Program...

HONIARA, Solomon Islands (Solomon Star, Oct. 31) – Pacific Islands Forum country members may in the future trade with countries of Melanesia under a new trade agreement signed last week.

The revised Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) trade agreement was signed by the prime ministers of Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Fiji and Vanuatu at the end of the Pacific Islands Forum meeting in Madang last week.

MSG chairman and Prime Minister of PNG Sir Michael Somare says the signing is an achievement for all MSG countries.

"The agreement provides for the extension of membership to include other forum members, and if this does happen, this will be beneficial to the sub-region and the South Pacific region as a whole," he said. "Unlike the other trade agreements with the region, there is real trade between member countries under this agreement. The revised agreement would bring about increased trade volume and cooperation in commercial activities between member countries...

PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea (PNG Post-Courier, Oct. 31) – Bougainville’s House of Representatives in Papua New Guinea is set to join more than 16,000 state parliaments as a member of the Commonwealth Parliament Association in 2006.

A happy Speaker of the House of Representatives Nick Peniai was all smiles when this was announced by the Commonwealth Secretary General Don McKinnon last Friday in Buka.

Mr. McKinnon said it was good that Bougainville had become a member of the Commonwealth Parliament Association (CPA) because it would be useful especially to the autonomous government to pick up and learn from the 16,000 state parliaments in finding collective solutions to dealing with their various problems.

"I commend the Speaker and the House for choosing to be part of the big community (of the CPA), which is a great pleasure as Bougainville is moving forward into a new era."

The reef, which is south of both Fiji and Tonga, has been claimed by the people of Ono-i-Lau in Fiji’s Lau Group as the traditional fishing ground of their ancestors for centuries.

The islanders now say they may have overlooked Minerva Reef when registering their fishing and land rights and have asked the government to secure it for them, despite it being officially claimed by Tonga.

But Mr Malolo says the reef, which the kingdom considers two islands, was proclaimed as Tonga’s by its king in 1972. He says claims by Fiji of ownership are baseless.

"That’s rubbish. We enforced national jurisdiction twelve miles around the two islands there. No formal objection was given to our government."

Malolo says Tonga has never entered into any formal agreements allowing Fiji to fish in the waters around the reef....

Pacific Islands Report is a nonprofit news publication of the Pacific Islands Development Program at the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawai‘i. Offered as a free service to readers, PIR provides an edited digest of news, commentary and analysis from across the Pacific Islands region, Monday - Friday.